This invention relates to a copying apparatus equipped with a paper separating mechanism for forcefully taking off a sheet of copy paper from a rotary drum.
An electronic or static copying apparatus is generally provided with a rotary drum, the peripheral surface of which is fitted with a layer of photosensitized material, thereby causing a static image formed on said layer of photosensitized material to be transferred to a sheet of copy paper. For transcription of the static image, the copy paper is statically adhered to the peripheral layer of photosensitized material, making it necessary to provide a paper-separating device capable of forcefully and reliably taking off the copy paper from the rotary drum after completion of transcription. If the paper-separating device does not work satisfactorily, then there arise various difficulties that the copy paper is inseparably wound about the rotary drum, drawn into a cleaner box disposed near the periphery of the rotary drum, namely giving rise to the so-called jammed condition of the copying apparatus due to blocking by the copy paper or, when thus pulled into the cleaner box, rubs the layer of photosensitized material formed on the peripheral wall of the rotary drum with the resultant damage of said layer.
A recently proposed device of simple arrangement designed for reliable separating of a sheet of copy paper from the rotary drum is the type which feeds a sheet of copy paper with one lateral edge portion of said copy paper made to project outward from the corresponding end face of the rotary drum by a certain width, and, after completion of transcription of a static image to the copy paper, engages an arm with the projecting edge portion of the copy paper to effect its removal from the rotary drum. With a copying apparatus equipped with the above-mentioned type of paper-separating device, no difficulty arises where the copy paper is set at an exactly desired position on a paper feeder. Where, however, the copy paper is displaced from the prescribed position, then there occur various drawbacks that the lateral edge portion of the copy paper projects from the corresponding end face of the rotary drum to a smaller extent than desired, or sometimes does not project therefrom at all, failing to attain the normal operation of the copying apparatus, and consequently leading to its jammed condition and the damage of the surface of the photosensitive layer formed on the periphery of the rotary drum.